MULLETS. 155 



oily substances floating on the sea, or to the 

 softer parts of aquatic vegetation. The ancients 

 considered it as the most innocent of fishes, and 

 this opinion has been confirmed by that of one of 

 our best ichthyologists, Mr. Couch. Yet the 

 observations of other naturalists reveal a very 

 different truth. Mr. W. Thompson, the able 

 historian of Irish zoology, has remarked, after 

 an examination of many individuals of the spe- 

 cies common in Belfast Bay (apparently Mugil 

 chel6)i that they presented many hundred-fold 

 greater destruction of animal life than he had 

 ever witnessed on a similar inspection of the food 

 of any bird or fish. From the stomach of a single 

 individual he took as many univalve and bivalve 

 moUusca as would fill a large sized breakfast cup ; 

 so that one of these stomachs might justly be 

 regarded as quite a store-house to a concholo- 

 gist.* 



Genus Mvgil, (Linn.) 



The characters already enumerated as distin- 

 guishing the Family may be considered as those 

 of this genus : the head is covered on the top 

 with hard bony plates, on the sides with compact 

 scales, which conceal the divisions of the gill- 

 covers ; the pectorals are pointed ; the sides of 

 the tail are not armed with projecting ridges. 



Two species are common on the coasts of these 

 islands, the Common Grey Mullet {Mugil capito, 

 Cuv.) and the Thick-lipped Mullet {M, chelo, 

 Cuv.) They very closely resemble each other, 

 but are distinguished by small anatomical pecu- 

 * Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist. July, 1838. 



